After yesterdays first house vs. current house comparison, this comment from Jess definitely got our wheels turning: “I think its an unfair comparison to put 8 months of work at the current place up against 4 + years at the old. You should have compared current photos from this house to what your old house looked like 8 months after you moved in there!!” Well, that’s probably not quite fair either, since we’ve definitely learned a ton in the last five years of homeownership (and also spend a lot more time doing house stuff these days since this DIY diary of ours is our job)… but we’re game! It’s Friday. But oh boy is this walk down memory lane going to amuse you. Just picture us quietly cringing over here as we bare all.
See, eight months into owning our first house, we still didn’t even know how to properly paint trim (I painted all of it in the entire house with flat paint only to learn it should be semi-gloss and then had to redo it all – and yes, it was torture). But the beauty of this post is that it’s a good reminder that houses take time. And sometimes they look crazy. Which is probably why some of the completely unfinished rooms in this house don’t make us want to cry as much as they did in our first house (back when we thought homes were supposed to be done the week after you moved in). Now we know better. So just for fun, here’s how our first house looked around eight months in (which was only about eight months before we started this ol’ blog to track the progress of our big kitchen renovation for friends & family members). Oh and you can scroll back to yesterday’s post if you want to peep the final first house pics (or compare this roundup to our current house’s eight-months-in progress). Just didn’t want to bog this post down with 50 more pics and crash the site like I did yesterday. Oops.
Front Yard, First House (8 Months In):
Our front yard was kind of just a forest when we moved in. But in eight months I did manage to clip all the trees that completely blocked the view of the house from the curb so neighbors could sneak a peek (yes, there really was a house back there). Project Tree Trimming was one of those let’s-surprise-John-when-he-comes-home-from-work projects that I did with a lawn chair and a branch cutter. And yes, the mister was shocked to actually see the front porch from the street.
Front Porch, First House (8 Months In):
This was a few weeks after I clipped up the branches. I took a saw to the fully slatted wood screen door and cut a big “window” in it just to break things up. Then I painted it yellow and hung an embarrassingly lame twig and faux lemon wreath from Target. Oh yeah and that thing hanging next to the door was left by the previous owner. It was a wood plaque that looked like a cutting board with a pineapple and the word “Welcome” painted on it. Very country cottage-y. But I loved that thing for a good year.
Living Room, First House (8 Months In):
Oy. That’s really all I can say. The sofa was a hand me down from a family member. The iconic college dorm coffee table was an Ikea find. Everything is way too small and way too far apart. There’s a square of faux-stone linoleum in front of the door. It’s all sorts of horrible. Living with this room for a few years taught us that creating two zones in the long-ish space (a dining area and a living area along with a console by the entryway) filled the space in a more functional and not-crazy-sparse way.
Kitchen, First House (8 Months In):
We were pretty active in the kitchen within eight months of moving in. We got all new appliances (Frigidaire from Lowe’s, which we carried over into our big remodel about eight months later) and painted the cabinets (Brown Bag by Glidden), replaced the hardware (with cheap Ikea stuff) and painted the faux brick backplash (Wishes by Glidden). It still looked like a hot mess in there, but it was our mess. Come on, you know you like those awkward serving spoons hanging from the metal range hood that’s not actually over the stove.
Dining Room (Future Bedroom/Nursery), First House (8 Months In):
We had lots of fun with this room, even though it wasn’t very functional (a room that barely accommodates four people does not a dining space make). We actually built that table ourselves (using a thrift store pedestal base and a giant piece of wood screwed in from below and then painted glossy black). I also spray primed and painted the old chandelier white (it used to be brass) and replaced the long pointy fire-shaped bulbs with modern round ones. But my favorite little adventure in there was painting the area over the chair rail with tiffany-box blue paint, and then using chalk to draw subtle leafy branches on the wall. Crazy yes, but lots of fun (I even used a spray fixative from the craft store to keep it from rubbing off). More on that project here.
Our Bedroom, First House (8 Months In):
Yikes, this room was baaad. Much like the living room everything looked really sparse. And yes, that’s a printer/fax machine hiding on the floor in the corner. Freelance copywriter from home = actually faxing things pretty regularly. But there’s no excuse for having it on the floor in the bedroom. And the too small art and too low bed with nothing else going on to fill things in around them kind of kills me. Thank goodness for living and learning.
Oh yeah, this bathroom phase is like looking back at photos of a really bad haircut in ninth grade. I thought painting the trim black around the window could look really cool and Domino-ish… but no. Not happening. So I painted it white again and removed the swag (which was actually a pashmina that I still wear to this day – and giggle when I remember its past life). Ah, much better.
Guest Room, First House (8 Months In):
So… eight months in meant we painted the room but that’s it. Still no bed for guests. We were saving our pennies and focusing on other areas, but we eventually got a full sized bed as a hand-me-down a few months later. Hooray for sleepovers.
Den, First House (8 Months In):
Bad news bears. Seriously, everything from the white bedsheet that I actually stapled to the underside of the desk in the corner to the crooked-looking painted paneling but unpainted brick makes me cringe. About a month later we painted the two brick walls the same color as the two paneled ones and it started to move towards the room that we know and love (but it still took a while to work up the energy to tackle those beams).
Laundry Nook, First House (8 Months In):
This is a terrible shot of the space that would someday become the laundry nook because it’s aimed at the floor, but I was terribly proud of the peel & stick vinyl tile that I laid down over grody old yellow sheet linoleum (that always looked dirty no matter how hard I scrubbed). Of course about a year later we’d remove those bifold doors to open the laundry area up (and to avoid door wars between the bifolds and the door to the sunroom) and add wood flooring throughout the entire hall, half bath, den, and kitchen. Oh but you might notice that I put little glass knobs on the bifolds to make them more palatable until those later phases. It’s the little things.
Half Bathroom, First House (8 Months In):
We knew that giant boxy sink vanity needed to be switched out for a smaller pedestal sink to make the tiny room feel a lot less crowded, but eight months in we were pretty scared to take that on (a little googling revealed that we had to cut into drywall to find studs to secure the back of the sink basin) so we put it off a few months longer. But we did paint the walls the same tiffany box blue that we had in the dining room (with flat paint, which was a bad call, btw- now I always use semi-gloss in bathrooms & kitchens) and replaced the toilet (it was avocado green when we moved in). And I replaced the knobs and the grungy old fabric on the window shutters (but later removed them entirely because natural light was much needed).
Sunroom, First House (8 Months In):
We actually did a fair amount of work in eight months in here. We got that wicker daybed as a hand-me-down and then got a hand-me-down twin mattress for it (and used regular old twin sheets from Target to cover the mattress and make that odd little skirt in the front). We also used a cheap-o lack table from Ikea to create the scrabble table (we just topped it with a larger tabletop that came with the thrift store pedestal that we used to make the dining table). We also stained the concrete floors a color called “tuscan gold” – which I later grew to hate because it was a bit too orange-y in direct sunlight (so we painted it a glossy chocolate color to tie it into the hardwood flooring throughout the house).
Patio, First House (8 Months In):
This patio was labeled as “needs replacing” during our inspection, so we knew it was on its last leg but thought we could live with it for a little while. But when my mom visited a few weeks before our backyard wedding and said she feared for guests’ safety (and pictured them all breaking their ankles on it) we decided to spend some of our saved-up “house fixing fund” to pay a pro to redo the whole thing over the course of three days (since it was just a few weeks before the wedding and we feared a giant half-finished disaster if we took it on ourselves). Knowing just how hard laying a patio is from doing the one at our current house, we’re still very happy we hired that one out so we could plan the rest of our wedding without that monkey on our back.
Back Yard, First House (8 Months In):
During our walk-through I glanced through the window in the old dated dining room and saw this. And I nearly lost my breath. I remember thinking “all this could be ours?” – I just thought having all this space would be awesome (the deep woods beyond the planted part was also part of the acreage). At first we loved the park-like setup above (and kept it pretty much exactly like this for the wedding (you can see how we set things up here), but eventually we grew tired of weeding the long pea gravel path and pruning the bushes and trying to use the tiny patches of segmented grass for incredibly mature things like extreme frisbee and chasing the dog, so we eventually craigslisted the gravel & bushes (folks dug them all up and hauled them for us in exchange for them being free) and we laid down some grass seed for a nice flat grassy yard in front of those deep woods. And Burger thanked us repeatedly for the trouble.
So there you have it. The state of our first house around eight months in. Thank goodness for the whole learn as you go, trial and error thing. It might not be the quickest way to a complete makeover, but I’m telling you – there’s something to it. Eventually you get there. Heck, it’s still the exact method that we use today (we just know a bit more about what we like and what type of paint should be used on trim and in bathrooms). So rejoice if your house is only a shadow of what you long for it to be. That stuff takes years, at least it does for us. So just keep trying things and learning about what floats your boat and eventually you’ll get there. Oh and don’t forget to enjoy the ride.
heather says
Sherry, you have no idea how much this made me go *whew* in regards to what that house started as. Ours is, we love it, it’s our home but frankly – it’s painful. I’m blogging about redoing ours right from the get-go really so I know the “oh God, I’m putting this online” from ugly to less ugly.
This is our latest. It still makes me cringe to see out there online even though it’s way better than it was. I’m sure I’ll look back at this in another couple years and go YIKES again. It’s not done by any means. At all. Thank God.
http://www.likeacupoftea.com/livingroom-update/
YoungHouseLove says
You’ve come a long way already! You go girl.
xo,
s
heather says
Haha thanks! It’s been interesting to paint a house before you renovate it (i.e. never quite finishing/furnishing a room fully). We’re doing it to get the equity up before we do the big knock down walls, open everything up part of it. At least it’s a good test run!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
Corinne says
Okay, seeing this post, I feel MUCH better about the lack of anything going on in my house after living in it for a year!
Jenny says
How fun! It looks like completely different people lived there :D
Amy L. says
Just finished toggling between this post and yesterday’s post. Both clearly took alot of work to put together. Thanks for taking the time to go through it all. Neat to see the progress.
Pip says
I’ve heard a saying that you need to make / build three homes in your lifetime and the third will be perfect (or perfectly imperfect?). But you absolutely finessed your first home and number 2 is well on it’s way!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a really interesting saying. Anyone else out there have three under their belts? Is the third time the charm?
xo,
s
heather says
Oh dear God I hope this isn’t true. Unless my next house is a farmhouse (preferably new, but built like an old one). That wouldn’t make me sad. At all.
LauraC says
I read that here, if it helps:
http://colourmehappyblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/which-backsplash-tile-goes-with-granite.html
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting! Love it.
xo,
s
xin says
Love these comparison posts. You guys have a long way to go to finally make this current house your shining star.
Just want to remind you guys that the hurricane Irene is coming, don’t forget to pack up all the toys and furniture on the patio, and close all the windows. Oh, maybe create some fun game for Clara and Burger, so they won’t be too scared by the gusty wind and pouring rain.
YoungHouseLove says
We’re doing that right now! Thanks so much for the tips. We’re crossing our fingers that we don’t lose power for a week- as blogging would be pretty hard without power!
xo,
s
Laine says
Holy crap, I have the same daybed! Also a hand-me-down, from my grandmother. I can’t stand it, but its completely functional in our spare bedroom–I have dreams of making a new frame (reusing the spring part).
Maggie says
That just made me feel so good. Hey we are 2 years in and still have a lot to do! It will always be a work in progress.
Sarah says
I’m going on my second year of home ownership…nothing is more rewarding than doing things yourself, to improve your home! Thanks for all the inspiration and have a nice weekend. (Hopefully, Irene keeps at bay…an earthquake and hurricane in one week might be too much excitement for little burger!)
Laura says
I’ve enjoyed these two posts about your old house. I never heard of your blog until you already were in your new house (about the time of building that awesome storage table behind your couch, which is why I subscribed, by the way). Very nice to see the changes you’ve made. You’ve done wonders with the almost 5 years (over 5?) of experience decorating. Everything you guys do is so beautiful, and my heart jumps a little whenever I see a new post from you in my reader (pathetic, probably LOL). Keep up the good work!
Laura
Kelsey says
Thank you for posting these old pics, it’s a great inspiration! My husband and I just bought our first house one month ago and we both read your blog everyday. I was getting discouraged and beginning to feel like we’ll never get there, seeing how beautiful your house was. But it’s good to see the difference from move-in to move-out. Thanks for sharing, it was very encouraging!
Heather W says
Thank you for this post!
I always feel like “why is this taking me so long?” and “why does everyone else seem to know exactly what they want and it looks great!”
It can be so frustrating. I have changed paint colors and furniture many times and from your blog have learned ways to diy things myself and to take my time!
Thank you so much for reassuring me that I am doing things just right! I hope my house turns out just as lovely in the end.
Amber V. says
Most. Encouraging. Post. Ever.
Laura Jane says
Wow, such a cool post! Love seeing how it took time to get the house to where you wanted it to be. Also, you painted the faux brick paneling in the kitchen?? Was it really faux brick and not real? We’re buying a house with hideous wood panel in the basement (which I know we can paint) and a section of faux brick panel in the corner (where a wood burning thing used to be). The faux brick is even uglier than the dark wood panel, believe it or not. I’ve been stressing about what do with it, because we can’t afford to tear it all down and drywall right way. Do you think I could actually paint the faux brick stuff? It’s got a slightly “plastic-y” texture, and I wasn’t sure if paint would actually stick on it, so to speak.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah- it was so gross but definitely not real brick (it felt spongy to the touch). But it soaked up paint really well! Use semi-gloss so it’s wipe-able. And if yours is a little plastic-y maybe use primer first and even sand it a little so you get better adhesion? Good luck!
xo,
s
Sarah says
ahhhhhhhh- THANK YOU FOR THIS post! I was feeling so depressed as we have been in our new house for 3months and its a mess. Still have boxes to unpack. Haven’t hung any pictures up. The house feels empty, cold. I have a million ideas of things I want to do- just need time and money. It was so nice to also see pics of your old house looking similar to ours to remind me it takes time.
ruthie says
Those pics give me hope that my house will come together one day! For some reason I hadn’t see those before pics. You all have come along way. Am I the only one who is impressed that you knew exactly where to find the “8 month” progress pictures?! So organized!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, the sad thing is that before the blog (and after the blog while owning the first house) I was crazy organized (I took monthly pics of the house as it evolved and labeled them by month in a master folder that said “our house.” Since moving into the new house (with a one year old, which I think might be the difference) I’m so scattered I no longer have my monthly labeled house pics. Just a million before pics snatched on move in day and another folder that says progress with everything stuffed in there (so I’d have to look at the date of each pic to find certain stages). Better get my act together soon!
xo,
s
LauraC says
So glad to know I’m not the only one who saw her organization and discipline disappear after kids. Wasn’t so bad with one, but where I really lost it was last year when #2 joined us. I always envy you, Sherry, with John there to help. I’m home with the kids, but it’s really hard to get much done with two little ones (who are rarely napping/resting at the same time). However, I’m sure it’s just a grass-is-greener thing, because I know you are super busy!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, babies will getcha. I can’t even imagine juggling a second one yet! Especially since Clara has decided not to nap much at all lately (an hour total if we’re lucky)! If it helps, we find that we get a lot done after 7:30 at night when Clara’s in bed. Nights and weekends are actually when we do almost everything – thankfully Clara can sleep through hammering like you wouldn’t believe!
xo,
s
LauraC says
Don’t worry, Sophia was 2 years, 9 months exactly when Jonathan was born. It’s a really good difference in age (potty trained, no paci, high chair or crib necessary). I say that because I know Clara will be 2 before you start hmmm, planning, for #2. So she’ll be 3 or almost so, and a very big help! Love my two!! (and love having a girl and a boy) Oops, sorry for changing the topic of this thread.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks LauraC! That’s so good to hear. My brother and I were three years apart so I hope it works out nicely, although I know it’ll be chaos at times. Haha.
xo,
s
Marci in Miami says
Wow, this is an incredible post and SO inspiring. Thanks so much for putting it together!!
Shaina says
I love this…is it weird that it brings me comfort to see that you guys started off with just a mish-mash of things too? We bought our house almost 2 years ago knowing we had so much we wanted to change, and it’s been quite a journey. Sometimes it gets a little discouraging (and embarrasing to have people over when the wallpaper in the kitchen is half torn down…), but you guys really are so helpful and inspiring! Keep it up! :)
Amy says
:) I feel soooooooooo much better now about not having my curtains finished yet. Or any of the rooms painted (except the living room). Or any shelving in the bathroom. Or the light fixtures changed out. Or the front door refinished. Or the attic insulated…
No really, I’m going to finish those curtains this weekend… and maybe finish unpacking.
mariela says
Thank you Sherry! I needed to hear that! My fiance and I have been at our house for about a month now and I just have to remind myself that it will take time and I have to enjoy the ride instead of worrying.
Mandy says
I have loved the last 2 posts. You guys have come such a long way, and have inspired so many people. Right now, Michael’s is doing a buy one gallery wrapped canvas get the next for a penny, so I got 2 black 8×10’s with some Mod Podge and foam brushes, and plan on printing out some pictures and making my own canvas prints ala your horse pics in the bedroom. I can’t wait!!
I do have a question though. What do you think would be the best thing to print on? Regular copy paper, card stock, photo paper? I’m thinking copy paper or card stock might not work, but I’m wondering if it will hold down the photo paper…
Thoughts on this would be great! Thanks so much :)
YoungHouseLove says
Holy cow- that’s an amazing sale! Thanks for the heads up! Hmm, as for Mod Podge I’m nervous for you (just because the first adhesive stuff we used didn’t work, so I truly believe acrylic medium might be the only way to go for long-lasting adhesion since canvas fabric is hard to “grip” longterm. I think I’d try cardstock over copy paper though, because I worry copy paper might be too thin and it’ll look wiggly. But I worry card stock might need acrylic medium to hold it in place since it’s thicker (I got that at Michael’s btw). Good luck!
xo,
s
ruthie says
Just happened to see this. I used to love using modge podge, but found that the colors will tend to bleed when I applied it?? Or maybe I’m the only one that has happened to. I’m checking out Michael’s as we speak!!
Mandy says
Yes, it is an amazing sale!! They also have the same sale for all their poster frames as well, fyi. Hmmm, acrylic medium?? Maybe I will go and return the Mod Podge and get that instead, and also get 2 more canvases just in case I mess up. I agree, copy paper would be too thin. I’ll also check out their paper options as well. Thanks Sherry!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck!
xo,
s
Mandy says
Ok, I was doing a Google search and found this. What do you think of this? (Sorry, don’t mean to take up more of your time)
“I would use matte gel to embed the photos in the background, it dries clear and covers everything (plastic coat;, but if the photographs are inkjet prints, they will probably smudge.
A better choice would be photo transfer: coat an injet print of your photo with 4-5 generous coats of matte gel; wait for it to dry; moisten the paper on the back of the print and gently rub the paper off; the image will be transferred into the clear hardened gel and the white paper will rub off. Your image will keep its properties and its now sitting on a clear support. Apply it to your desired support and coat-seal with gel again.”
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds like it could work!
xo,
s
Mandy says
Thanks so much for the help!! I truly appreciate it :)
Wishing you guys luck throughout the hurricane. I think I will take the trip to Michael’s then come home and start bringing stuff in from outside (we are in Maryland). Hope all is well with you guys :)
Lisa says
I never really comment but I have to say thank you for posting this!! I was very intimidated when I started following your blog this spring and jealous that I couldn’t figure out my style right away but now I know we just need to take our time and make changes as we go and the house will come together. It’s been a year and when I look back, I am really proud of the changes we made.
Thank you for keeping it real!
Amy says
I moved in June. This makes me feel so much better :)
Misty says
Do you have a post about how you made the table? I can’t find exactly what I’m looking for and was thinking of doing the same.
YoungHouseLove says
This other pedestal table that we later made (using the same thrift store base and a different top) might help. We just drilled into the tabletop through the pedestal so it held them together (being careful not to use screws that were too long and poked through the tabletop) and then primed/painted it all : https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/03/table-for-two/
Good luck!
xo,
s
Krystle @ ColorTransformedFamily says
This comparisoin is much better. It’s also so nice to see that you didn’t start out with everything you needed in your first house. Seeing the finished pictures yesterday and the eighth month ones today you can tell a lot of time and effort was put into it.
Amber says
WOW! How crazy to look back. You guys did so much to that house, I had almost forgotten how much.
This post gives me hope that I can still make a bigger dent in home. We bought our home a little while after you bought your first house, but haven’t done nearly as much to it. But maybe, in another few years we will be half way there!
Lauren says
Thank you for this post! It’s a good reminder for me…we just bought a house in a similar state as your first one two months ago, and I constantly try to remind myself that it won’t be finished over night!
Jenn says
I guess you must have loved the color blue….nice to see how your design changed over the years.
YoungHouseLove says
I know right? Blue overkill. I think it was one of the only colors we could agree on at first, so we slowly had to learn other colors we both liked as we went!
xo,
s
Sarah says
Oh thank goodness, there’s hope! Maybe in 4ish years I too can have an awesome, stylish home. You guys have been an absolute inspiration to me, but seeing that your home was once a more humble mish-mash really clinches it. Thanks for always letting us learn from your experiences.
Lauren says
It’s nice to see that your first house didn’t start out all perfect and matchy! It looks like how our first house is gonna look once we buy it! It gives me goosebumps to know what great adventures in house updating we will get into! Thanks for sharing!
Melissa says
I’m not sure if someone already suggested this or not, but since you guys love house crashing I think it would be really fun to crash your first house, if the new owners are okay with that of course. It would be neat to see what they’ve changed and how they are using the spaces you guys created and loved.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, we would love to do that and they know it. Haha. The ball’s in their court so here’s hoping the phone rings!
xo,
s
ruthy says
Wow…lets just say that you two are WAYYYY better at what you do now! ;)
Diana says
Okay. I don’t want to sound like a total loser or maybe I’m just a renovation virgin (compared to you guys!) but why do you keep mentioning semi-gloss paint on the trim? What’s wrong with flat paint? Did I miss the memo? I’m not sure what we have but it looks good so does it really matter? Please explain!
YoungHouseLove says
Flat paint isn’t very wipeable and dusting baseboard and window ledges that have been painted with flat paint is chalky and gross- the dust literally sticks to them where it slides right off semi-gloss (which is the industry standard). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Saleha says
Ah, so now i know what is wrog with our windowledges! Dusting them is horrible indeed!
Mary says
I love your whole house posts with the before and afters. I have done this on the last 3 houses including the current house because it is a ‘no surface left untouched’ house. You inspired me to update my photos and share with my husband last night who is definitely not handy and can’t figure out why after 2 years it just isn’t done! Thanks for your continuing motivation. Be safe this weekend.
Jessica M. says
What a fabulous post…ya’ll have come a long way baby!
I did have a question about you painting the chandelier. I recently bought some ORB (thanks to you!) and plan to paint that horrid brass chandelier in our formal dining & noticed you mentioned primer. Do I need to use a primer first? If so any suggestions? My hubby & I are now wondering if we could ORB all the brass door knobs in the house as well…hmm.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, since it’s so glossy I would use a spray primer like Kilz and then follow that with ORB. Unless it’s the kind with built in primer to begin with. Good luck!
xo,
s
Pam the Goatherd says
We moved into our house 14 years ago and absolutely NONE of our remodeling/redecorating projects is done. We did paint the kids’ bedroom before we moved in, but the yellow vinyl flooring never did tie in with the pink/blue walls. About 5 years ago we were forced to redo the bathroom when our fiberglass bathtub cracked and we feared falling through the floor! But, while I painted the walls a fresh, creamy white and painted the towel bars black and laid a black and white marble checkerboard pattern of peel and stick tiles, my husband never completed the tub surround. Then our geriatric dog who had lost control of his bladder started using the bathroom floor for his accidents and our washer sprung a leak in the pump and flooded the floor, which peeled those peel and stick tiles right off… I’ve got the paint to finish the walls around the tub sitting in the bathroom, but haven’t had the time to get the job done. And I’m looking for some sheet vinyl flooring that looks like the black and white marble checkerboard to replace the peel and stick mess because when it’s not all unstuck the pattern and the marble look really nice! But it seems no one does a marble look vinyl like that. There is linoleum with that pattern, but it doesn’t look as classy as the marble.
Now that the kids are all grown and out of the house I look forward to turning that room into a sewing room/guest room but first I have to finish the kitchen, which is half done with new appliances and cabinets. I want to build some Anna White hutches for the other side of the kitchen and then the floor needs to be replaced. But the kitchen and living room are all one big room, so the floor in the living room needs to be replaced at the same time which is a whole ‘nother major project. I’m thinking it’s going to take another 14 or 15 years to get it done. And all of this is in a 900 sq. ft. mobile home!!!
If I gave up my goatherding/milking/cheesemaking/gardening/chicken raising ways I just might have time for the remodeling/redecorating.
Layla says
Reading and seeing all this was incredibly encouraging – thank you! We’re coming up on our 3 months anniversary in our first house, and sometimes it’s hard to accept how long things take to come together. Not a single room is anywhere near where we want it to be, but most of the time we do pretty well to remember that it’s a process that we should have fun with. =)
Also, I feel like this post needs pictures of you guys and Burger from the same time period to make it complete. =D
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I’ll have to try to find some of those!
xo,
s
Deb Della Rosa says
Love this post, too! We just moved into our second house in June (from ATL to NJ) and have soooo many projects to do. But it being summer and having a pre-schooler and second-grader to entertain in a new town have made home improvements near impossible. It’s so nice to be reminded that these things take time — and what I might have wanted to do on move-in day isn’t necessarily the best idea for our family. Definitely helps to “live” in a house a little while before diving in…. Thanks for giving the rest of us hope!
Ang says
I. Love. This. Post. Love love love. It’s bolstering my resolve to NOT take a sledgehammer to our PINK bathroom tile and mismatched (but also involving effing pink) floor until we can afford to replace it with something we love. ;)
Jenn says
Thanks so much for posting this! My fiance and I just bought our first house together in July, and we use your blog all the time for inspiration and tutorials! We’ve been trying to tackle little projects here and there every week, but sometimes we get really frustrated that our house doesn’t look like what we want it to look like right now. It’s comforting to know that other people go through the same awkward phases when they move into their houses and don’t just knock everything out at once.
mimi says
Great and inspirational post! I bought my bungalow 5 years ago and it was the first place I ever lived by myself. I thought I did a great job decorating at first, but in the last couple years, I’ve realized that a house is a work in progress and isn’t ever really done. My boyfriend moved in with me this summer and we’ve completely transformed the living room (new paint color, couch [mini karl], chair, coffee table). I did have a bit of wounded pride when my boyfriend commented on how it was such a great improvement over my original decorating – but this article has reassured me that it’s normal to keep learning and improving over time. Keep up the great and inspirational work, and we’ll keep trying to do the same! :)
kaylan says
you have no idea how encouraging this post is! i’m on month six (maybe?) of really trying to decorate and arrange our house and it is sooo slow. and i keep making mistakes and then i read blogs and try to figure out where i’m going wrong. but this just proves that i’ll get there if i keep at it, so thanks for this post! i really appreciated it.
Lara says
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post!
Love you guys so much!
Adrienne says
This post was awesome. Seriously, SO inspirational for a first-time homeowner. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I kind of don’t feel so bad about myself for my home’s current state! We just celebrated our “1-year anniversary” of house-dom, and while I’m proud of the place, there’s still much to be done.
Any comments you could share about the peel and stick tile from the old laundry nook? We have awful, decades-old linoleum that I’d like to give a temporary facelift while we save cash for a major overhaul. Maybe this is a dumb question, but did it work to just stick it over the existing floor (which is sort of what it sounds like you did, above)?
Thanks for all you do! You guys just make me smile.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, we put it down really easily and it was a cheap solution that stayed put until we later replaced it. Here’s an old post about adding it to our kitchen: https://www.younghouselove.com/2009/04/its-a-stick-up-er-down/
xo,
s
holly says
thanks so much for this post. I have owned a home for about 10 days now, and it all feels so overwhelming. it feels like nothing will ever get to where i want it to be and that I shouldn’t bother until i know just what i want.
thanks for the dose of reality. life is not like an HGTV show, and I forget that sometimes.
Jenn says
Like everyone else I really loved this post. One of my favorites! I started following around the beginning of the year so I had only seen your amazing finished product and not things in this uhm…developing stage shall we say. It makes me feel good about where I’m at (knowing that this inbetween phase is normal and I shouldn’t expect amazing rooms my first go around) and am inspired to go work on some of those half finsihed projects I have scattered throughout the house.
Amy says
This is so inspiring to me! We just bought our first home and I want everything to look perfect immediately. Seeing your pictures makes me realize that it is going to take some time and I need to have some patience. Thank you for these!
Emily says
You guys are just awesome. I am most impressed by the fact that you actually have pictures from 8 months in! (since you weren’t even blogging at that time) That’s smart…and it makes me want to go document my entire house right now! I always put it off saying I don’t want to remember that until it’s finished, but that ends up not being true as you want to see the comparison!
On a hurricane-related note, I was going to wait and comment later on your blogiversary whenever you ask what we’d like to hear and I was hoping you’d do a segment on some practical (er, boring?) home care tips. Such as checking a house after an earthquake? (we’re in Burke and just discovered some studs poking through an upper wall accompanied by cracks in the dry wall…not sure if from the initial one or that after shock 2 night ago) Preparing for emergencies? Furnace inspection? Air duct cleaning? Do you keep a notebook/schedule of all house care-related things? I know you guys do some posts like this periodically, I’m probably just being anxious with all this natural disaster business.
Yeesh, didn’t mean to make such a long comment! Sorry, I’m just such a big fan I feel like I know you guys! Have a great weekend :)
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to find a few experts to chime in on emergency preparedness (since we’re by no means experts ourselves and don’t just want to google around for tips that might be outdated). Anyone know about checking your house after an earthquake or preparing for a hurricane or general maintenance stuff? When it comes to our general maintenance, we keep a master list in a “house binder” that we made (full of contractor and servicemen numbers and home warranty info, etc) full of reminders like “get furnace serviced every year” and “get termite check every year”, etc. I just scan down the list and see what I have to do and try to get it done in that time frame. Hope that helps!
xo,
s
Sarah @ Redhead in Ruffled Flats says
Thank you so much for posting this! I just got married on the 13th but had been in the same apartment as my hubby for about a month before the wedding. Although we are settled in, our townhouse apartment needs so much work (and we can’t do any major fixes since we don’t own it). I think of you and John a lot as I look around our apartment and think about how sparse and ugly it is right now. We’ve been slowly making changes as we save up the money, but I want it to look great now! This post helped me remember that no house (well no house belonging to any middle class person) looks beautiful upon moving in, especially when the people living there are newlyweds with barely any furniture. We’ll keep chugging along – one day it will be beautiful!
Sarah @ Redhead in Ruffled Flats says
I just reread my last comment – when I said I look around our apartment and think of you and John, I meant because I want our home to look as beautiful as yours and all I see is a sparse ugly mess at our home. Sorry if it seemed like I insulted you! It was not intended!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- no worries- I knew what you meant!
xo,
s